b'TECHNOLOGYBEAM ME UP, SCOTTY! THE CUTTING-EDGE TRIMBLE XR10 USES MIXED REALITY FOR SITE PRODUCTIVITYHARNESSING THE POWER OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY By Sarah B. HoodMOBILE TECHNOLOGY COMES IN MANY SHAPES ANDIts only in the last few years that it has become really SIZES, FROM THE PAYROLL APP ON YOUR SMARTPHONEstreamlined, where one company could provide a complete to Spot, the headless black-and-yellow robot dog from Bostonsolution, says David Davidson, general manager of Dynamics that climbs stairs, opens doors and records images inBuildingPoint Canada, which provides mobile software and places where humans might be at risk.hardware solutions that help the industry leverage constructable data, 3D modelling and real-time collaboration.But the construction industry has been slow to adopt even simple mobile solutions. In fact, the economic analysts atWorking with Trimble, the manufacturer, we help companies McKinsey Global Institute rank the construction industry lastmake digital designs and models a reality in the field, Davidson among technology adopters, stating that 30 per cent of thesays. Using a program like Tekla, every detail, down to the specs productivity gap in the construction industry can be traced to afor individual components, can be shared with everyone on the lack of technology gains. team, from fabricators to tradespeople.Mobiles were once used just onsite to make a call or send anRob McKinney, strategic solutions engineer for eSUB, says email; now site workers are assigning tasks, viewing plans, filingmobile devices are currently handling five main functions: reports and much more, all from the device in their pocket, sayssafety documentation, labour tracking, daily reports, photo Tara Callinan, content marketing manager for Fieldwire, a top- management and plans. Its shaving time from tasks that rated construction app that, she says, gives crews everythingpeople dont want to do or theyre not good at, things that were they need to carry out their work onsite, from custom forms andtraditionally written on paper or typed; it takes time to track reports to BIM viewers. time, he says. For example, with eSUBs Fieldworks app, the foreman can take a photo and save it into the cloud for people to COMPLETE SOLUTION see instantly.The beauty of mobile devicesand the cloud especiallyisA few years ago, McKinney performed a simple test to measure that these days, when construction projects are getting morethe time savings of using technology. On the first day, I walked and more complex, theyre able to capture in real time whatsnine condominium units and took the four traditional photos in actually happening in the field, says Wendy Rogers, CEO ofeach unit, and I had a pad to write down the photo details. Then I eSUB Construction Software, a cloud-based platform thatdrove back to my office, took out a memory card and saved them enables labour tracking, productivity and collaboration. into a folder, he says. That took 96 minutes.28Quarter 3 2020 BUILDERSDIGEST'